27 posts from April 2013

Pitcher Roy Halladay is now 0-for-11 with 11 strikeouts this season, and that might have come into play when he was pulled in the sixth inning.

Halladay, known for his ability to go deep in games (last time out he threw 109 pitches), was pulled for a pitch hitter in the bottom of the sixth despite having allowed just one run on one hit and two walks.

"I think if we have two outs and nobody on, I’m going to hit and go out and pitch the seventh," he said. "I understand why I came out, and it worked (Kevin Frandsen hit a pinch-hit RBI single). Unfortunately, [the lead] didn’t hold up. You always want to go as deep as you can and pitch deep, but when you’re 0-for-11 with 11 strikeouts and they have a man on third with a chance to extend the lead, they aren’t going to let you hit.

“Oh yeah, you’re a competitor. Your priority isn’t to hit, but you want to be able to make contact and make something happen. I’ve spent a lot of time with [Wally Joyner] in the cage, and I think that’s what’s more frustrating than anything. You’re putting in the time and the effort, and do things the way they should be done, and you still aren’t getting the results. I just have to be patient, trust what he’s telling me and try to evolve. I think if I keep on that path I can get to a point where they will let me hit in a situation or bunt in a situation and extend an outing.”

JUST FOR THE RECORD ...

Chase Utley really hadn't been around to talk to about what happened Sunday when he got doubled off second base. We assumed, and so did Charlie Manuel, that he lost track of the outs and thought there were two outs instead of one, which meant he'd be off on the pitch.

Utley said that wasn't the case.

"I actually read the ball off the bat as a blooper," he said. "I knew there was one out. It was obviously a bad read looking back on it. When he hit it, he hit it off the end of the bat and I felt like it had a good chance of falling and I was going to take the chance that it was going to drop. It didn’t.

"Sometimes you take those chances. But it wasn’t for the lack of not knowing the outs, that’s for sure."

NOTES: Michael Young's14-game hitting streak ended. ... Utley's home run in the first inning was the Phillies' first HR against a lefty this season and it came in the club's 134th at-bat this season. ... Mike Adams was charged with a blown save and a loss. ... Manuel said he thinks Ben Revere (.207 BA) is pressing. Sounds like he will get the day off Thursday.

This is the last thing the Phillies wanted to see: another left-handed pitcher.

The Phillies are batting only .182 against left-handed pitchers this year; their left-handed hitters are even worse (.136).

And get this --- the Phillies are one of only two teams in baseball without a home run against a left-handed pitcher (the Twins are the other team; the Braves lead the majors with 14).

In the hopes of trying to do something, anything really, to get this team going against left-handers, manager Charlie Manuel made a change to his lineup. He split up lefties Ryan Howard and Chase Utley with Michael Young (Utley is hitting second, Young is hitting third and Howard is hitting fourth).

“I could see how that could be beneficial for sure,” Utley said.

It’s the second night in a row the Pirates are starting a left-hander. On Tuesday, Jeff Locke threw six scoreless innings of two-hit ball. Tonight, the Phillies are facing Wandy Rodriguez, who enters with a 0.56 ERA (1 ER, 16.0 IP). He’s walked just one and fanned 11.

What could help is the Young, owner of a 14-game hitting streak, is sandwiched between them. He has hit .375 with two doubles, three triples, a home run and five RBIs in his last 16 games.

“I don’t see no sense in having them hit [back-to-back],” Manuel said. “That makes it easier for the other team, for the starter and the reliever.”

NOTES: Phillippe Aumont has no ERA at Citizens Bank Park (13.2 IP). In his 13 games, he’s holding opponents to a .070 batting average (3-for-43). … The Phillies are 4-9 when they score three runs or fewer and are 1-10 when trailing after eight innings.

Pirates pitcher Jeff Lockewas foreign to most of the Phillies hitters.

Not to Dom Brown, though. Brown had faced him in the minors several times and knew the lefty would be attacking the Phillies with fastballs.

The knowledge, and experience, didn’t help. He grounded out on a first-pitch fastball from Locke in the second inning.

“Was throwing a lot of fastballs, getting ahead,” Brown said. “That first at-bat, I was trying to go up there fighting, but swung at a bad pitch. That’s baseball. He was coming right at us. We’ve got to do a better job having good at-bats.”

Charlie Manuel wants that too, but he can’t guarantee anything.

“We’re going to see if they can hit,” Manuel said. “Believe me, I’m pulling for every one of them. But that’s what we’re going to see.

“Once the game gets going, the only thing we can do is say something about how the guy is pitching them. We can do that. But we can’t help them once they step in that batters box.”

AN EXPLANATION FROM MANUEL

If you were frustrated by John Mayberry Jr. running on contact from third base when Ben Revere hit a slow roller (Brown was on second base with nobody out), here’s Manuel’s explanation.

“If he don’t go home, it’s a double play,” Manuel said. “Mayberry is going there (no matter what). That’s like a guy with first and third and nobody out and he hits it back to the mound, he’s going on that. That’s been – unless you don’t want him to go - he’s been going there as long as baseball has been around. Ever since Abner Doubleday invented the game, he’s been going there.”

Charlie Manuel said he was simply giving his second baseman a day to rest. He has started the last seven games (in seven days). The last time the 34-year-old was not in the starting lineup was April 15 in Cincinnati. He ended up pinch hitting that game.

After today, the Phillies play another five games in five days, and he knew he needed to give Utley and his chronically injured knees, a breather.

“I want to make sure that I can get him off his feet every now and then,” Manuel said.

The weather --- it was cold, windy and drizzling during batting practice -- factors into Manuel’s decision as well.

“I kind of worry over that, too,” he said. “You’re more likely to get hurt in cold weather than when it’s warm.”

The break for Utley comes during a stretch when he hasn’t been particularly sharp. On Saturday, he completely misread a routine ground ball that would have gotten the Phillies out of the inning, but instead, the Cardinals scored two runs. Then on Sunday, he lost track of how many outs there were and got doubled off of second base after the Phillies had already scored two runs in the first inning.

Jesse Biddle, the Phillies’ top pitching prospect, had baseball fans from Reading to Philadelphia to the Lehigh Valley paying attention to him Monday night.

Biddle retired the first 19 batters he faced, striking out 14 of them before losing his perfect game with one out in the seventh when he walked Harrisburg’s Sean Nicol. Three pitches later, Destin Hood singled into left field to break up the no-hitter.

He finished with a career-high 16 strikeouts.

Director of player development Joe Jordan said Biddle’s fastball topped out at 94 mph and regularly hit 91-92. The Phillies’ first-round draft pick in 2010 (27thoverall) mixed in what Jordan called an above-average curve ball alongside his changeup and slider.

Biddle, 21, ended up allowing one hit and two walks in seven scoreless innings. Of the 104 pitches he threw, 74 were strikes. The lefty’s previous career high in strikeouts was 12. The 16 strikeouts were the most by a Reading pitcher since Adam Walker fanned 13 on May 10, 2001, against Portland.

“He’s got a good look in his eye,” Jordan said.

Don't expect to see him at Citizens Bank Park any time soon. This is his first season in Double-A. Maybe, and I stress maybe, he could be a call-up in September, but I doubt that. The Phillies are known for taking their time bringing up pitchers.

NOTES: Carlos Ruiz began his rehab assignment Tuesday night in Clearwater and will continue there Wednesday. He will travel Thursday and then play with Double-A Reading on Friday and Saturday. ... Delmon Young is scheduled to continue his rehab assignment with Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Thursday in Indianapolis. ... In their last 15 games, the bullpen has an ERA of 2.14 (10 ER, 42.0 IP) and is limiting opponents to a .217 batting average. The bullpen began the season with a 10.50 ERA in its first four games.

My colleague, Jeff Schuler, who is our IronPigs beat writer, spoke with their manager, Dave Brundage today and it sounds like Delmon Young will be making a stop there during his rehab assignment this week.

Jeff was asking Brundage today about how tough it was to get at-bats for outfielder Jermaine Mitchell, and he acknowledged that it hasn't been easy and wouldn't get any easier this week.

"The line-ups have probably been the most challenging thing so far for myself, trying to get guys some at-bats, and it’s going to get tougher now that Delmon Young is going to join us and we’re playing National League baseball for the next 16 days."

Jeff then asked when he was expecting Young to arrive.

"Thursday or something like that, if all goes well," Brundage said.

Young, who had offseason microfracture surgery on his right ankle, officially started his rehab assignment Sunday when he played right field for Class A Clearwater. Management is excited about adding his bat to the lineup, but GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has admitted that he has concerns about his defense, especially after he booted a ball in Sunday's Threshers game.

If John Mayberry Jr. keeps this up, it’s going to make it harder and harder for Charlie Manuel and Ruben Amaro Jr. to dismiss him upon Delmon Young’s return, which is getting closer and closer.

Mayberry, a former first-round draft pick of the Texas Rangers, leads the team in on-base percentage (.409), is second in hitting (.316) and second in doubles (6, which is also tied for ninth in the NL). He has just one less double than Jimmy Rollins in 36 fewer at-bats.

“He does some things that Wally [Joyner] and [Steve] Hendu [Henderson] talk to him about,” Manuel said. “We talk to him about his hitting. There’s no sense in me discussing them. Like I said, let somebody else figure it out.”

Mayberry’s biggest issue throughout his career has been his lack of success against right-handed pitchers. Coming into 2013, he had career batting average of just .232 against righties. But so far this year, he’s hitting .323 (10-for-31) against right-handers.

On the current homestand, Mayberry is 5-for-13 (.385) with an RBI in four games.

Mayberry has made 11 starts this season, 10 in right field and one at first base. Young is expected to play right field when he finishes his rehab assignment.

“When you play good,” Manuel said, “you always have a chance.”

Manuel has talked time and time again about how Jayson Werth and Shane Victorino played so well that they played themselves into the lineup. Could Mayberry be the next guy to do that?

If you want to know what pitching coach Rich Dubee thinks about the progress Roy Halladay has made in his last two outings, good luck.

When asked about the veteran right-hander, Dubee said emphatically multiple times that he was not going to talk about him.

“I think you guys, and everybody, has bashed Roy Halladay long enough, brought up his bads, his bads, he can’t do this,” Dubee said. “Now he has a couple goods and now all of a sudden he’s a Cy Young candidate again. You guys ride that roller coaster. We’ll just stay where we’re at. Let Roy be Roy and work himself back into it.”

MANUEL SENDING A MESSAGE?

Charlie Manuel said he got to the ball park for Sunday night's game at 10:30 in the morning and wrote down lineup after lineup after lineup until he finally settled on one. Didn’t sound like it was awe-inspiring to him.

"I think about my lineups and I write everybody down 100 times or 50 or whatever,” Manuel said. “I look at it and I still come up with the same names."

So, is this code for, “maybe we need different players?”

Could be.

What we do know for sure is that the Phillies entered Sunday’s game ranked (among all MLB teams) 25thin OBP (.291), 25th in OPS (.664), 22nd in slugging percentage (.373), 22nd in home runs (13) and 21st in runs scored (63).

The Phillies have decided to call up Jonathan Pettibone from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to start tomorrow's series finale against the Pirates.

The club will make a corresponding roster move soon, likely after tonight's game. Expect a reliever to be sent down.

Pettibone (0-1, 9.64 ERA) will be making his major league debut.

"He's a guy who's got stuff," GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "He hasn't pitched great this year yet, but his stuff has been good. His command hasn't been great, but he's been up to 91-94. Hopefully he's got enough weapons to pitch well for us."

Pettibone is known for having a good sinker and slider.

Pitching coach Rich Dubee said he didn't feel comfortable commenting on Pettibone because he only saw him pitch during spring training and he doesn't like to judge pitchers on their outings in spring training.

DELMON YOUNG GETTING CLOSER
All along, Amaro has had concerns about Delmon Young's defense. His outing today did nothing to help ease Amaro's mind.

Young, who officially started his rehab assignment when he played right field for Single-A Clearwater today, booted a ball.

"Obviously we want he bat, but if he can't play defense, he can't play in the National League," Amaro said. "He's going to have to be adequate out there. Until today he hadn't screwed up any balls, but today he did. It was described to me as a ground ball that he got on an in-between hop and I think he kicked it."

Young can take up to 20 days on his rehab assignment before he has to be activated.

RUIZ'S WRIST NOT 100 PERCENT YET
Since being hit on the left wrist with a pitch on Friday, Carlos Ruiz has not played in an extended spring training game. His original X-rays were negative, but Amaro said he's going to have another set just to be sure. But the GM added that he is doing much better.

Ruiz, in the midst of serving his 25-game suspension, can begin a rehab assignment on Tuesday and it can last five days. Assuming the Phillies don't have any rainouts, he can be activated for next Sunday's game against the Mets at Citi Field.

There were no baseball games on the TVs in the Phillies clubhouse after their win Friday. No highlights from the MLB Network either.

Just the news was on with reporters talking about the capture of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The topic of conversation with winning pitcher Roy Halladay was bound to head in that direction.

And he showed his respect and appreciation for this country.

"We all realize how lucky we are to not only live in this country, but to have the freedoms that we have and do the things that we get to do, and when things like that happen, it’s disappointing and it’s heartbreaking," he said. "But to see how we overcome things is very gratifying. We always seem to become stronger from things like this. I’m glad to be a part of a country that takes things like this and takes bad moments and can turn them into good moments and [into] things that will make our country stronger."